Destroy
by Tobias Kami
Summary: After Jake's parents are captured, he sinks into a spiraling anger, and begins tearing apart everything in sight. Tobias takes the risk of approaching him, and makes him a promise... Set after book 49.


_Hello everyone. This is my second story for the Animorphs fandom. This one is rather short, just something quick that I wanted to put up before I started finals. There's no yaoi in this one,(unless you squint really, really hard) the two are just friends. I'm working on a much longer, and detailed story at the moment, expect that in the next week or so. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Animorphs. They belong to K.A Applegate. _

_Enjoy and Review!_

"**Destroy"**

The single word echoed in his red-hazed brain, thundering with the beginnings of a headache. A growl burst out of his throat as he crouched, muscles rippling, black stripes on orange, and sprung forward.

A red-tailed hawk flapped hard, and flew away again, leaving the 500 pound tiger to claw at nothing but air, and the soft earth under the tall redwoods. The massive claws carved 4 wicked lines into the ground. They matched sets of claw marks all around the meadow. Here and there, a small bush had been snapped in half by the fight. Soft golden light was filtering through the tall trees. Across the soft field of yellowed grass, the setting evening sun cast its glow.

Jake was panting hard, his head reeling from grief and exhaustion. He started at the grief that started to try to overwhelm him. He sunk back into the tiger's mind. The tiger was confused at the emotions. It did not know grief. And so it channeled it into what it could understand. Anger. Anger at not being able to understand.

Once again, the red-tail fluttered close, a flurry of clearly defined brown and rust red feathers. It settled on a rock near where Jake stood, shaking with the effort of standing. Its feathers fluffed instinctively at what the hawk recognized as a threat. But it stayed.

_Jake? _

The voice, which he hadn't heard out loud in too long echoed in his head.

_Jake. You've got to stop. It's been almost two hours._

Jake closed his eyes. He winced as he shifted is weight to one side. His bright eyes snapped open at the burst of pain. Looking down, he realized that he'd torn off a claw in that last attack, and his right paw was slowly reddening into a bloody mess.

Tobias was still here, the feathers on his neck slowly sinking back into place when it became obvious that Jake wasn't going to attack again. He was still staring at him, golden eyes burning into his own. A soft sigh sounded in Jake's head.

_You've got to change back Jake. We need you. _

_They needed me too. _

Jake's thoughtspeak sounded raw even in his own head, holding tears that he couldn't shed.

_Tom needed me. My mom… my dad…They all needed me. And I did nothing._

Jake felt his legs give out on him, and tumbled to the ground, exhausted. _You don't need me, Tobias. I can't even help myself._

Without a word, Tobias began to morph. Jake didn't know what to think until he saw those fierce golden-brown raptor eyes soften into a light brown. Tobias was becoming human. Feathers smoothed, and faded into a tattoo-like pattern also disappeared into pale skin. Dirty blonde hair shot from the top of his head, his cruel beak melting into pink lips, and a slightly upturned nose. His wings were the last to go, slowly fading into arms, hands, fingers. Tobias, the boy he'd once known, emerged from the hawk that he'd fought alongside of.

"You've got more to fight for now, Jake. More than anyone here. We do need you. You remind us what we stand to lose."

Tobias' voice was soft, slightly scratchy from lack of use, and his eyes were sad. He knelt in front of the fallen tiger, showing no fear at being at the mercy of a beast that could kill him with one swift blow to the head.

"You're our leader, Jake. You always will be. And I promise you, we are going to destroy them. Jake, we're going to destroy them all."

Tobias stood, dirt and stray bits of grass clinging to the front of his legs where he had sat on them. He extended a hand down towards the tiger, towards Jake. "Please. Come with me."

So much was left unspoken in those simple words, but looking into Tobias' eyes, his human eyes, Jake found himself morphing before he could stop himself.

As the last of his stripes faded, he looked up at the hand that Tobias unflinchingly offered. He took it, and with a small smile, Tobias pulled him up. They started walking, heading toward the Hork Bajir settlement that the others had gone to a long while ago. It wasn't until they had settled into a comfortable pace that Tobias spoke again.

"Oh and Jake?... you're helping me fix my meadow tomorrow."


End file.
